Indore-based startup WittyFeed is ranked the second-best content generator in the world after BuzzFeed. Can it keep up the buzz?

Can a bootstrapped startup be one of biggest clients of Google from India, feature in the top 300 (formerly top 200) websites in the world by California-based web traffic and data analytics firm Alexa, have 120 million unique visitors every month and more than 400 million monthly page views? This is what WittyFeed claims. “It is the world's second largest viral content company after BuzzFeed in terms of traffic,“ claims Vinay Singhal, cofounder and CEO of the Indore-based startup. It posted revenue of `26 crores in the last financial year and is likely to double its numbers this fiscal. No bad by any reckoning, especially for a startup that began in a small hostel room in 2014. “We have been profitable since April 2015,“ says Singhal, adding that further expansion to the US and EU is imminent, as they contribute over 50% of traffic.

More Than Just A Clone

Singhal flat out denies modelling his firm on Buzzfeed. While they may be similar, he concedes, from an outsider's perspective, BuzzFeed produces content and distributes it on social media through its channels, while WittyFeed is a platform for publishers, distributors and consumers of content. “We are more like the Uber of content,“ he says. Singhal's foray into content began with a Facebook page `Amazing Things In The World,' which garnered 4.2 million followers. On realising he could monetise the audience, he built everystry.com in mid-2013, adding Google's AdSense. But he faced a few problems: not having enough content as well as not being scalable in terms of audience, as it was confined to just one Facebook page. “This gave birth to WittyFeed,“ he says.

How & Why It Works

Its revenue model is built around display inventory. WittyFeed works with major global ad exchanges, networks and trading desks. The second source of revenue is content marketing and branded content. Brands share their messaging, target group, audience and budget, and the startup takes care of the rest, ensuring the intended messages go viral. “We operate at a fraction of BuzzFeed's manpower, infrastructure and funds,“ he asserts. But then why has it escaped VC attention? “Very few VCs in India understand the content business,“ says Singhal.A global market as target audience -WittyFeed is available in English, Hindi and Spanish -puts it even further beyond their comfort zone.

But then, there are also a few chinks in its armour. Nearly 40% of traffic flow seems to be from India, says Jessie Paul, founder of marketing advisory firm Paul Writer. There are also some unexplained crashes in its global ranking in August. The number of subscribers for its categories run only in the 100s; surprising given traffic in millions, she adds.

The Road Ahead

Paul reckons comparing WittyFeed and Buzzfeed is inaccurate. To be viewed as a content generation site, it needs to hike its revenue from clients using its service to create content.Buzzfeed not only uses clickbait listicles to drive traffic, but also creates hard-working content for the likes of IBM, she points out. Singhal is aware of the challenges. “60% of the traffic is not from India,“ he contends, adding it means 60 million traffic from countries like the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, Mexico and Argentina. As for the dip in Alexa rankings in August, Singhal maintains it happened due to a technical glitch: the Alexa tag being accidentally removed during a code push to production servers. While the error was rectified in three days, it takes Alexa 21 days to re-evaluate and update its rank. “Since then our ranking has been consistently higher,“ he says, adding that WittyFeed has shown that a venture of global appeal can be undertaken even from a small city like Indore. “The Number 2 tag would soon turn into Numero Uno,“ he signs off.